BS Detector Ad: Are We Using These Buzzwords?

Many people — maybe I am unaware I am using this too — use terms that sound geeky and corporate to make their presentations appear credible and them appear knowledgeable. But it’s just pure BS most of the time. A YouTube video of an Adobe ad is a bit too cruel to those who get caught using them.

When we talk to clients, we need to be more articulate about what message we wish to convey. Adding these “synergy”, “engagement”, “brand equity”, “share of voice”. Yes, I occasionally use these terms perhaps for lack of more appropriate term.

Honestly, I’ve seen this mostly when I was working in a big agency, where presentations by the big bosses at conferences are littered with these words as though they coined the term (hoping it will be in the league of “crowdsourcing”, “long tail” and others who may be on their way to Webster’s dictionary).

But I think these terms only become BS if the one talking about it fails to elaborate and execute what its real meaning is. So if someone asks what’s the difference between buzz and viral and we fail to convince them with our answers, let’s not even start using them.